FORUMS: IMPORTANT NOTICE This message board has closed and has been replaced with a forum. Our new forums are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Anyone can read messages on the forums. Only registered users will able to post messages, create new topics and reply to messages. Click here to go to visit the Forums or register now.
Your letters
Leave your comments here for publication on this site. They will also be considered for publication in the print edition of TheBusinessWeek.co.uk
I have been running a small recyling factory in Kirby for 14 months offering a closed loop facility for our region, employing local people and creating real jobs through new and inovative technology, i have been granted the licences by the environment agency to conduct this type of recycling and am in desperate need of a business angel who believes in recycling, long term investor required £100k min, good returns and rocket fuelled prospects.
Its about time the working people of our city stood up and opposed liverpool councils plans to turn our city into a tourist destination, instead of a centre for business, this failure to think big affects us the most and yet we say the least, please stand up and be counted because they as of yet failed to listen stand up and be counted because Manchester is taking all the jobs Yet we have a nice view of the cathedral from the wirral!!! OH PLEASE WE LIVE IN A CITY NOT A MUSEUM!!!! And I would rather have a better paid job and be able to put food on the table, rather than being able to travel over to the wirral and look at the anglican on a monday morning!
Interest Rates and House Prices. News that the Housing Market has risen again is no surprise when you consider that New Borrowers are probably rushing to get on the property ladder before more Rate Hikes and thus are pushing Demand and Prices up. No real surprise but I find it ridiculous that the Economists amongst us can't see the wood for the trees. Threats of rate rises actively spurs buyers on!!!
While greatly supporting the principle of Children's Centres, can anyone tell me why they have to replace existing community centres, eg Ellergreen?
P Burke
23:10:02 03 October 2006
Is the age Discrimination Act fair?
Having read and studied the do's and dont's of the age discrimination act it is a walking minefield for any employer. Looking for an office junior, senior consultant or should I say office apprentice, experienced consultant!? Acas have published a guide to the act and advises when recruiting not to write key words such as enthusiastic, motivated, flexible, mature even if you mean attitude should be avoided from an advert because these word indirectly aim at a target audience and could be used in a discrimination case.
With this in mind how can they justify that the minimun wage act is not discriminating against! this is crazy and I am sure in a European court this could be challenged as this is typical double standards.
With the No Win No Fee americanisation that we face does this mean employers have to tip toe round there employees?
Political Correctness has gone too far!!!
These are exciting plans from 'Peel'.If any company is likely to get things 'Moving' it's them....Why not do a 'Compulsory Purchase Order' on the 'Festival' site and Re-Sell the Land to 'Peel'...I'm sure they would come up with a magnificent Scheme....It has been derelict for far too long!!!
The development of the Liverpool Paradise project may be seen as a wonderful thing in the eyes of the 'big' players in the city ie MS, Aramani etc.
But what redress have small businesses like mine have, Building works all round, bus services re routed away. pedestrian access hampered, the list goes on. Just recently loading restrictions have been rubber stamped which impedes businesses receiving deliveries during normal working / office ours.
Of course the majority of these decision makers can sit back comfortable at the end of each month with the knowledge that their fat 'salaries' will just pop up on their next bank statement while my fellow business owners in Hanover street see their reserves dwindle into oblivion
Well done Liverpool City Council .... NOT!
John Williams
from Liverpool
12:17:47 02 August 2006
The new late opening hours for shops is to be welcomed but should only be the start of reform.
This should spread to every shopping day and up to maybe 10 o clock at night.
If its good enough for London then its good enough for Liverpool.
John Ward
from Crosby
10:18:31 19 July 2006
Why is it that it takes a private company to come up with the type of common sense approach to Liverpool's waterfront development that the Council should be adopting?
Peel development director Lindsey Ashworth told the Daily Post: It is my view that any development on or near the waterfront to be effective has to be properly connected to the rest of the city centre and adjoining land and land ownership is key to achieving and delivering this.
How enlightened this is compared to the Council's pathetically predictable and dated process of elevating any old pile of rotten bricks like the old dock wall to almost Taj Mahal status and bleating on about heritage.
Mark Hawksworth
from Conwy, North Wales
12:15:50 18 July 2006
Toll City.
I would like to highlight the future plans for a new Mersey crossing at Runcorn. From what I can find out they are planning a toll bridge. The impact of this will be that for anybody from Runcorn, North Wales and Ireland (ferry via holyhead) will have to pay a toll either at Runcorn or the Mersey tunnels to visit Liverpool. Surely Liverpool council and business people must realise this will have a huge impact on visitors from these regions, many of whom originate from the Liverpool area. Also North Wales is most probably the number one area for days out and holidays for many families from Liverpool who will have to pay toll fees. The worst impact will be on the people who live on one side and work on the other.
Joe Moran, Liverpool Branch Secretary, UK Independence Party
from
15:35:33 03 July 2006
With regards to Grant Thornton's survey showing cool support for the Euro (Business Week June 27), it is no surprise to find that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are cool on the issue.
Not only have SMEs suffered under a torrent of Red Tape produced by the EU, they have also had to bear crippling energy prices and add to that EU legislation that is plainly absurd!
As for the Euro, its very existence is threatened by Italy, who are already making noises about pulling out.
Germany and France have both successfully broken the Stability and Growth pact, that they all signed up to, to underpin the Euro.
Major international companies are the only ones who like the Euro and regularly lobby the EU to sell this farcical currency.
And finally, without a fully supportive, Democratic, backing for a Political Union of the EU, the Euro is bound to fail as predicted by many economists.
Name and address supplied
from
09:52:49 03 July 2006
Regarding the introduction of 100 new laws relating to employment and more on the way: as an employer in the manufacturing sector I can only advise anyone setting up business and intending to employ people, that they need to be sure of the individuals they hire.
The new laws are heavily slanted against the employer and are actively used by employees and 'claim chaser' law firms in an effort to extract compensation from employers on the basis of technicalities (where the employer has not followed the letter of the law), rather than on the grounds of the employer treating the employee unfairly.
My company has had many bogus claims against it recently,and has suffered punitive legal costs even when we have won the case.
Governments which force through such populist legislation in an effort to appeal to the public sector work-force must realise that certain people are unemployable,and there must be some protection for the employer, particularly in the private sector where legal costs can cripple a small business. Personally, I am not remotely considering an increase in my labour force at any time in the near future, for the very reason that along with the punitive employer's national insurance the anticipated (forced) employers contribution to the employees pension, and the over-regulation of Health and Safety, it no longer rewards an individual to go into private business in this country.
I am wishing to set up my own New Business.
My service shall be aimed at all Importing Exporting and International Trading Businesses.Some examples are:
1. Work with an existing International Trading Company and review all their global logistics and supply chain procurement and do a health check to ensure they are getting the best value for their spend and also to examine the existing supply chain to see if stream lining and benefits may be gained.
2.Assist in procurement and sourcing and supply and assist in marketing and general business sales and development
3.My aim is to free up the clients valuable resources while enhancing their performance.
4. Work with new Start Up, Entrepreneurs and any existing Businesses considering entering in to the International market.
Ian
from Italy
13:30:28 02 June 2006
Completely agree with John Ward's wise words....When are the dinosaurs in the town planning department going to start thinking like city planners?
Liverpool has the waterfront potential to be an English Manhattan , albeit on a smaller scale....The ideas are there, unfortunately they are not accompanied by metropolitan minds....For real city thinking read Downtown Liverpool's excellent contributions...By the way, how many have these townplanners and councillor gnomes ever lived abroad or in other real city contexts???
John Ward
from Crosby
15:01:02 16 May 2006
Cllr. Nick Small is talking like a true politician, taking the opposite stance to the ruling party for the sake of it and offering no solutions to the problem of attracting investment to Liverpool, only criticising those that exist.
There is nothing unique in Liverpool's built environment- better examples of all types could be found in London for instance- but what is unique, possibly in the whole world, is the cities refusal to drag itself into the modern world and realise we are not Venice, Florence or some other beautiful ancient relic. We are a post-industrial city that desperately needs investment and employment and rejecting private investment on the scale we have with the suicidal anti-tall buildings policy does nothing but inflict another generation to the poverty that is the true heritage of the city.
Bill Gleeson writes that we should be making our workforces be more flexible than they are in order to attract more companies to set up here. That's all very well if your writing from the relative warmth of a highly paid journalists chair. He'd soon have a different view if he was being asked to work increased hours, with no extra money for it, plus a wage freeze. He would also feel rather bitter to then have his employer tell him that if he didn't accept this, they would close the factory, transfer the work to another country...and why would they do that? Because they can! Surely, Bill, you can see the unfairness of this? Why are you so silent about this?
David Woods
from Manchester
20:35:11 10 May 2006
Congratulations to Warren Bradley, a ridiculous Tall Buildings Policy has at last been bined. The heritage of our city must be safeguarded but we must look foreward and grasp the opportunities that the city now enjoys. Objective One money kickstarted a revival that few who lived through the past 20 years could have ever imagined, now we see private developers coming into the city ,not with a begging bowl asking for handouts ,but with exciting plans with private money. Apart from Grosvenor which is in partnership with the city, other developers ,Maro, Chieftain and Merepark/Ballymore have struggled to get their stunning proposals off the drawingboard.
So I again say WELL DONE Warren, I wish you well in ensuring that this city will put out the welcome mat to developers and ensure that the current regeneration will continue way past 2008.
Cllr Nick Small, Labour Councillor
from Central Ward, Liverpool City Centre
17:38:40 09 May 2006
Even by their own rather dubious standards, the Liberal Democrats' about-face on their own Tall Buildings Policy is breathtaking. Only a year ago the Tall Buildings Policy was being hailed as the most progressive of its kind.
Though I did not believe the Policy went far enough in certain areas, I broadly welcomed many of its underlying premises particularly in relation to clustering future tall buildings around three key city centre locations and the fact that the Policy did not define tall buildings in a prescriptive manner, but rather in relation to existing neighbouring buildings.
The Tall Buildings Policy was a step in the right direction and represented a sound basis to balance Liverpool's ability to attract inward investment with the need to protect our city's unique built environment heritage.
I fear that the Lib Dems' abandonment of the Tall Buildings Policy is based on the worst kind of laissez-faire economics of the mad house and will do very little to regenerate our city in the long-term, as well as damaging the interests of existing city centre residents - both those living in long-standing inner-city communities and those in newer apartment blocks - on whom so much of our city's potential to regeneration depends.
William
from Dublin
12:36:43 09 May 2006
I agree with the messages of both John and John Stanniford. What Liverpool needs is people and business activity in scale.Manhattan is a great example of both! This will only happen if physical infrastucture, residential accomodation, office accomodation, etc is delivered in scale not to replace but to complement the city's Victorian heritage. The growth in Dublin in last 10 years has been fantastic but serious mistakes have been made in terms of the planning vision behind a lot of the development. The new docklands in Dublin is ok but represents a lost opportunity in terms of scale. This policy failure has substantially contributed to crazy house prices and horrific commuting ordeals for many young Dublin families.
Liverpool has a great opportunity going forward to make the 21st century like the 19th for the city.It won't happen without people living and working there. Go for it!
Paul
from London
20:03:26 08 May 2006
I seriously think that some people on the council need psychological help. They are trying to mould the city into an image of themselves- I.E. dowdy wallflowers who do not want to offend anyone- survile doormats who enjoy being bullied by bureaucrats- Sunset Boulevard characters who want to live in the past. For goodness sake, why don't they stand up for themselves and build whatever they want? Show a bit of PIZAZZ- undo the charisma bypass- REACH FOR THE SKIES-GET A LIFE AND BUILD BIG!!!!!!!!!!!
Phil from Liverpool
Congratulation to Liverpol council for finally getting rid of the clamp on tall buildings.Lets show the rest of the world we want to be at the forefront of modern thinking. Lets encourage cuting edge and not fustate it.
We`ve got the most historic buildings in the country outside London,lets have some for 21st. century.
Brilliant.
John Staniford
from Liverpool
14:53:38 08 May 2006
Good news for the city! Hopefully developers that have had their plans for taller buildings unfairly reduced in height can go back to their original, taller and bolder proposals. This should also make people look at the opportunity of building up a modern cluster of buildings in the new commercial district plans. Liverpool has a unique chance in the UK to build a great waterfront skyline, don't blow it!
Fantastic news. One thing though, your editorial comment that no-one in their right mind would want a Manhattan on the Mersey.
Why not?
New York is the most exciting city and skyline in the world and something we should aspire to 100%.
Steve
from Liverpool
10:04:14 08 May 2006
Common sense prevails. If Liverpool really wants to be a dynamic centre of culture and commerce in the future, we have to grasp the opportunities presented and prosper with them. Stifling regulations and narrow margined demands are not the way to achieve this, assessing each opportunity on it's merits is.
